Flight
The flight was as usual : boring, short night ! The plane was almost full, but I was lucky to spot two free seats close-by, so I asked to move there to have more space. A bit later, a couple with two kids (one ~3 yrs old, and a baby a few months old), asked me if I accepted to change seats so they could be together. So, I ended up in the "front seat". This has two features : 1) more space for the legs, which is good ; 2) many kids around, which makes the night even shorter. I didn't really mind : I never sleep a lot during the flight, and I don't mind the kids.
Anyway, after about 10 hours we landed in Zurich on time, and I could take the 7:40 flight to GVA, where I landed at 8:30 and Laura was waiting for me !
Breakfast and market
Arriving from freezing Johannesburg, I was quite happy to land in a place where it was a nice summer day. Very warm (30+ !), sunny, it was perfect. Since I landed early, we had time to leave the luggage in Laura's apartment, and go meet Evren and Ceren for breakfast. Then we went to the market in the city center, to buy some grocery, fruits, and cheese.
This is really one huge difference with Jo'burg : here, you just walk out of home, go to the metro without worrying because you are taking your camera or whatever, walk in the city, never mind what time you will come back, day or night, whether you will have to stop at the red traffic lights ("robots") or not. The main source of worry is weather. Don't get me wrong : I do realize that Swiss people (European people in general, but in Switzerland it's even more obvious) are lucky to live without this feeling of insecurity. Actually, even in Switzerland, some politicians play with insecurity, saying how dangerous it is to walk at night in some places. That may be true in very, very few places here. I remember during local elections they were pointing out the danger of a few young guys hanging out close to the train station in Renens (small city near Lausanne).
Anyway, even if in South Africa I did not have any problem, being here is good for the peace of mind !
Lake
Since the weather was so nice, we then met our friends in Pully to enjoy the summer day at the lake.
Evening
In the evening we tested the "new" Chez Xu close to the train station. The food was again amazing - as good as the one in Riponne. We finished at the "Bar Tabac" for a last drink (tea for the guys, amaretto for the girls), and then we left when they realized I was sleeping !
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